TASMAN, Abel Jansz

Captain in the service of the Dutch East India Company from 1633. In 1642, by order of the company, he began an exploratory expedition to find the yet un known “South Land” (Terra Australis). Sailing from Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia), he discovered Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) and Statenland (New Zealand). He was the first to sail around Aus tralia, although he was not aware of this at the time.

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TASMAN, Abel Jansz (1603-1659) — discoverer of Tasmania and New Zealand was born in Groningen, Holland, in 1603. We first hear of him at the end of 1631 when he, a widower living at Amsterdam, married Jannetjie Tjaers. He was shortly afterwards in the East Indies Company service … Dictionary of Australian Biography